


with luck and with skill

by SlowMercury



Category: Dreaming of Sunshine - Silver Queen, Naruto
Genre: Dimension Travel, Gen, No beta we die! like men!, Quasi First Meetings, Quasi Mission Fic, Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24566668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlowMercury/pseuds/SlowMercury
Summary: As competent as he is, Zabuza could use some help this time.  Anko assists her new-old friend.
Comments: 23
Kudos: 265
Collections: Exchange no Jutsu 2020, Heliocentrism — a Dreaming of Sunshine recursive collection





	with luck and with skill

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wafflelate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wafflelate/gifts).



> wafflelate, thank you for organizing this fic exchange! It was lovely to see what everyone wrote/drew.
> 
> I really, really wanted to post this before the exchange de-anon-ed, but I was too slow - by the time we were down to like 15 minutes left and I still didn't even have a title, I figured it was better to take my time and just give up on being (very briefly) anonymous. Sorry!
> 
> (heartbeatstumbles, if you read this, I intend to write a thank-you fic for you too, but, uh, that could take awhile - possibly an eternity - so please don't hold your breath, but do know that I also appreciate you!)

Zabuza has just finished off the two Hunter nin in front of him and he already knows he’s going to be too slow to deal with the one attempting to flank him without taking injury, but he tries to turn anyway and a near miracle occurs: someone helps him.

Of all things, it’s a Leaf ninja. A woman in an orange coat is hurling kunai at his five remaining opponents — no, four remaining opponents. The enemy ninja retreat to the edge of the forest clearing where they’d run him down and then scatter so that they can come at him from all directions.

This Leaf ninja must have some grudge against Hunter nin. She body flickers into the space next to him, landing so that she’s directly at his back facing away from him.

No one has given Zabuza their back in a fight since long before he left Kirigakure. Haku would, but Zabuza and Haku’s usual tactics tend to favor Zabuza drawing attention in the center of the melee while Haku picks off enemies from the sides. Also, Haku is a trusting idiot.

“Hey, Zabuza,” she says casually, like they’re friends meeting up in a bar or something. “Who are we fighting?” 

Even as she speaks, the Hunter nin gather their courage and charge again. Zabuza was never going to lose this match-up, but with the Leaf shinobi at his back the fight ends even faster and without any further injury to Zabuza’s side. Zabuza’s side apparently includes this Leaf kunoichi. 

Once all his enemies are down, Zabuza turns to glare at his companion. It’s a scowl that has rarely failed to make whoever he’s looking at wary, but it has no visible effect this time.

“Who are you?” he growls.

“I’m Mitarashi Anko,” the woman says. Her eyes flick up to his hitai-ate with the line slashed through, then run along the ragged edges of his outfit. “I’m Konoha intel. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know what year it is, would you?”

Zabuza tells her. Anko gives a confirming nod, but something about the stillness of her face sets off a warning bell. She’d expected something else.

Zabuza doesn’t have time for this, whatever this is. Haku was supposed to be back from the supply run four hours ago; Zabuza wasn’t worried before, but now, after this ambush by Mist Hunter nin, he is. 

Unfortunately, Zabuza isn’t much of a tracker. His skill set runs more towards silent assassinations and winning straight fights with precise kenjutsu and sheer brute power. 

Almost unwillingly, Zabuza’s eyes slide sideways to the Leaf ninja beside him. She’s given him her back again, and now she’s crouched over a small pile of equipment she’s taken off the bodies they made. She’s got a stolen bingo book open and she’s flipping through it, pausing occasionally to inspect a page here and there.

“How’s your tracking?” Zabuza asks her.

“Passable,” Anko says, straightening up and turning to face him. “It’s not my speciality, but I manage all right.”

“…I have a partner,” Zabuza admits reluctantly. He pauses, but Anko has been surprisingly unafraid of him and she seems generally agreeable so far. He needs help, and if Anko turns out to be the wrong kind of trouble, he can always just kill her. “Haku should have been here by now, so something must have happened to him. I’d like to hire you to find him.”

Anko’s eyes harden, but not in rejection. “Right. Let’s go.” 

She didn’t even ask about payment, Zabuza notes in bemusement. 

It's two weeks later, after Zabuza has killed a whole lot of bounty hunters moonlighting as bloodline thieves on his way to retrieving Haku with Anko’s enthusiastic assistance. Anko’s still hanging around. She started tutoring Haku in exotic poisons a week ago.

Zabuza has to admit, if only to himself, that Anko is not an unpleasant addition to their group. She’s gregarious and friendly with Haku, but still bloodthirsty enough to get along with Zabuza. She’s completely unintimidatable, and she switches between astonishing ignorance and uncannily well informed without warning. When Haku had asked her how she guessed he and Zabuza were with the Mist Rebellion, Anko had made a joke about being from the future in a different timeline. 

Zabuza believes her. It’s a strange explanation, but it _fits_. 

“Why did you help me, back when we first met?” Zabuza asks abruptly.

Anko looks up from where she and Haku are dipping senbon in a paralytic paste that makes its victims’ hearts stop in a way that mimics natural causes. 

“Well, how could I, a loyal Konoha nin, fail to offer assistance to the Mizukage’s husband in his moment of need?” Anko says, and it’s mocking but it’s friendly, too, which is Anko all over.

Zabuza chokes, horrified. “I married _Yagura?_ ” he finally stammers out. 

Anko _grins_ , exactly like a shark that’s caught the scent of blood in the water. “I was at your wedding, Zabuza,” she says. “It was pretty memorable, maybe the most memorable wedding I’ve ever attended.”

Zabuza wheezes.

Haku gives Anko a look of stern disapproval, but Zabuza knows his apprentice — he can see the laughter in Haku’s eyes. “Who exactly did Zabuza marry, Anko-san?” he asks.

Anko pouts. “Spoil my fun,” she says. “Zabuza married the Godaime Mizukage, Terumi Mei.” 

That’s all Zabuza needs; he heaves a sigh of relief and resolutely ignores the rest of Anko and Haku’s conversation. Anko has started talking about bijuu now, and Zabuza just _doesn't want to know_.

…Mizukage’s husband, huh. That doesn’t sound too bad.


End file.
